Is A Short-Seller After Your Stock?

"The fund run by Brad Lamensdorf and John Del Vecchio, Ranger Equity Bear ETF, has lost a ton of money. So now is probably a good time to pay attention to what they are doing. . .

"Why take investing tips from a pair of traders who are fighting the tape? Because the higher that stocks fly, the further they have to fall when they encounter bad news. No telling when the stock market will turn down, but when it does, the high-risk companies that Lamensdorf and Del Vecchio have shorted are likely to suffer outsize damage. . .

Full story: http://www.forbes.com/sites/baldwin/2013/06/26/is-a-short-seller-after-your-stock/

John Del Vecchio, forensic accountant and co-portfolio manager of the Ranger Equity Bear ETF (NYSEArca: HDGE), has a new book out that puts indexing in a favorable light, but with a few important twists. Del Vecchio told IndexUniverse.com

Correspondent Cinthia Murphy that owning swaths of the market is the only way to preserve returns in a world full of vagaries that can torpedo the most established of companies. But that doesn’t mean he buys into traditional market-capitalization-weighted methodologies.

Read the entire Q&A here - He discusses the key concepts behind that fund in his book “What’s Behind The Numbers?” (McGraw Hill) ,arguing that applying forensic accounting and focusing on earnings quality allows him to find value stocks while excluding accidents that are waiting to happen.

"I would recommend the book to those compelled toward stock picking or to anyone who wants to better understand how companies manipulate their earnings. It’s an easy read — you don’t need an accounting degree to understand it — and the insights are applicable whether you prefer to go long or short. . . Avoiding the big losses is more important than getting the big win, and that is the message of this book."

"Mr. DelVecchio, a square-jawed soccer fan who works out of Dallas, isn't a big-name hedge-fund manager with ultrarich clients. He manages a $280 million exchange-traded fund that can be bought and sold by investors of all stripes.

His AdvisorShares Active Bear ETF also differs from other ETFs in the market. Mr. DelVecchio, 36 years old, and his partner, Brad Lamensdorf, actively manage their positions, and they only make negative bets on stocks and bonds. Their strategy is so uncommon that fund-research group Morningstar Inc. believes Mr. DelVecchio's fund is the world's lone actively managed "short-only" ETF."